Field of the Invention
This invention relates to riding type Lawn mowers and to a grass catcher therefor, and more particularly to a mounting arrangement for a grass catcher on a riding type Lawn mower which permits the grass catcher to be manually operated to dumping position by the operator while he is still seated on the vehicle and while the vehicle engine is running, and without removing the grass delivery tube from the grass collector receptacle or bag.
In most of the grass collecting arrangements for riding type Lawn mowers, when the grass collector bag or container becomes filled with grass, the operator stops the vehicle, dismounts, and unloads the grass collector bag. The unloading operation of the prior art generally involved removing the bag cover, removing the grass delivery tube from the grass collector bag, sliding the filled bag out of or lifting the filled bag off of the bag supporting frame, inverting the bag to empty its contents, replacing the empty grass bag on the supporting frame, and again placing the grass delivery tube in discharging position with respect to the grass collector bag. The operator then remounted the ride-on vehicle to continue the grass cutting and grass collecting operation. This prior art arrangement just described had several disadvantages including (1) the operator must stop and leave the operator's seat to unload the grass collector bag; (2) the unloading operation can be unsafe if the vehicle engine is not shut off when the operator dismounts to unload the grass collector bag; (3) the succulent green grass is heavy and can be difficult to handle when unloading; and ( 4) the disadvantage of having to move the grass delivery tube out of discharge relation to the grass collector bag in order to dump the contents of the bag, and then having to return the grass delivery tube into discharge relation to the collector bag when resuming the grass collecting operation.
Another additional type of prior art grass collecting arrangement for Lawn mowers permits the grass clippings to be dumped slightly above ground level, and has the disadvantage that it does not permit unloading on top of a previous dump or into a wagon or cart.
As a further example of the prior art, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,770 granted to Jean-Rene Dufour on Nov. 24, 1970. The patent just mentioned shows a walk-behind lawn mower which is provided with a manually operated side dumping grass collector or container.